President Trump claimed final victory in the defamation lawsuit brought against him in 2018 by a porn actress who publicly accused him of a sexual affair with her.
“The 9th Circuit just issued a final ruling in the Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels) frivolous lawsuit case against me brought by her disgraced lawyer, Michael Avenatti, upholding the lower court ruling that she owes me nearly $300,000 in attorney fees, costs, and sanctions (not including appeal costs),” Mr. Trump said in a statement Monday evening.
The liberal-leaning 9th Circuit refused Monday to hear Ms. Clifford’s appeal of a lower-court ruling on her 2018 lawsuit. She had claimed that the then-president had defamed her by denying the affair and deriding her in personal terms.
In October 2018, U.S. District Judge S. James Otero dismissed the defamation lawsuit and also ruled that Mr. Trump was entitled to receive attorney’s fees. In December of that year, the fees were set at $293,052.33.
“Now all I have to do is wait for all of the money she owes me,” Mr. Trump crowed Monday.
Mr. Trump’s statement also repeated his denial of the affair, adding that “nor would I ever have wanted to.”
The former president called the case “a purely political stunt that never should have been started, or allowed to happen.”
Avenatti is now behind bars for numerous extortion and fraud convictions, most recently one of defrauding Ms. Clifford on which sentencing is still pending.
Mr. Trump ended his triumphant Monday statement by taking a shot at his least-favorite institution.
“P.S. The Fake News probably won’t report this story!” he said.
